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neutrino
7 dictionary results for: Neutrino
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
neu·tri·no 
[noo-tree-noh, nyoo-] Pronunciation Key
[noo-tree-noh, nyoo-] Pronunciation Key –noun, plural -nos. Physics.
| any of the massless or nearly massless electrically neutral leptons. There is a distinct kind of neutrino associated with each of the massive leptons. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| neu·tri·no
(nōō-trē'nō, nyōō-) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. neu·tri·nos Any of three electrically neutral subatomic particles in the lepton family. See Table at subatomic particle. [Italian, from neutro, neuter, from Latin neuter, neutr-; see neuter.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
neutrino
neutrino
1934, from It. neutrino, coined 1933 by It. physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-54) from neutro "neuter" + -ino, dim. suffix.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| neutrino | |
noun | |
| an elementary particle with zero charge and zero mass |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
neutrino
(n -trē'nō) Pronunciation Key
Any of three electrically neutral subatomic particles with extremely low mass. These include the electron-neutrino, the muon-neutrino, and the tau-neutrino. ◇ The study of neutrinos that come to the earth as cosmic rays suggests that neutrinos can transform into each other in a process called neutrino oscillation. For this phenomenon to be theoretically possible, the three neutrinos must have distinct masses; for this reason, many scientists believe that they have mass. See Table at subatomic particle. Our Living Language : Neutrinos were not observed until 1955, roughly a quarter of a century after the physicist Wolfgang Pauli first hypothesized their existence on theoretical grounds. Pauli was studying certain radioactive decay processes called beta decay, processes now known to involve the decay of a neutron into a proton and an electron. A certain amount of energy that was lost in these processes could not be accounted for. Pauli suggested that the energy was carried away by a very small, electrically neutral particle that was not being detected. (He originally wanted to name the particle a neutron but didn't publish the suggestion, and a few years later the particle we now know as the neutron was discovered and named in print. The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi then coined the term neutrino, which means "little neutron" in Italian.) Neutrinos are hard to detect because their mass, if they indeed have any, is extremely low, and they possess no electric charge; a chunk of iron a few light-years thick would absorb only about half of the neutrinos that struck it. Nevertheless, neutrinos can be detected, and three different types have been distinguished, each of which is associated with a particular lepton (the electron, the muon, and the taon) with which it is often paired in interactions involving the weak force. Recent analysis of neutrinos emanated by the Sun has suggested that each type of neutrino can spontaneously turn into one of the others in a process of neutrino oscillation, and for theoretical reasons this in turn would require that neutrinos have mass. If so, then despite their light weight, their abundance may in fact mean that neutrinos contribute significantly to the overall mass of the universe. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
neutrino [(nooh-tree-noh)]
neutrino [(nooh-tree-noh)]
An electrically neutral particle that is often emitted in the process of radioactive decay of nuclei. Neutrinos are difficult to detect, and their existence was postulated twenty years before the first one was actually discovered in the laboratory. Millions of neutrinos produced by nuclear reactions in the sun pass through your body every second without disturbing any atoms.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
neutrino neu·tri·no (n&oomacr;-trē'nō, ny&oomacr;-)
n. pl. neu·tri·nos
Any of three electrically neutral subatomic particles in the lepton family.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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